This Chart Shows Us Why We Can't Blame China For US Job Losses

The rise of emerging markets like China and Brazil coincided with
the long decline of the U.S. manufacturing sector. This has led
to some adversarial rhetoric from politicians and pundits,
blaming China and others for stealing our jobs.

An interesting
post at VoxEU claims that this trend is vastly overstated.
Richard Dobbs, Jan Mischke, and Charles Roxburgh of the
McKinsey Global institute estimate that of the 5.8 million
American manufacturing jobs lost from 2002-2010, only about one
fifth were lost from outsourcing or changes in trade patterns.

The real culprit is an increasingly productive workforce combined
with lower demand, particularly during the financial crisis and
recession.